Samrat Choudhary was sworn in as the 24th Chief Minister of Bihar on 15 April 2026, becoming the first ever politician Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hold office. His promotion follows the pattern the BJP has adopted for its growth – outgrowing regional partners and upending the hierarchy in its favour. The ground reality in the state has changed 2020 Bihar Elections when the BJP won 74 seats and overtook it Janata Dal (United States of America)which unexpectedly slipped to 43 out of 243 seats in the council. IN Council elections 2025The BJP won 89 seats while the JD(U) won 85. The BJP waited a little longer to release JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha after two decades as chief minister. Mr. Choudhary’s elevation follows another pattern of the BJP’s flexibility in handing over the top post to recent party members. He was in Rashtriya Janata Dal and JD(U) before joining the BJP in 2017. Mr. Choudhary belongs to the Koeri Kushwaha caste and was the OBC face of the BJP. The BJP-JD(U) alliance, along with other smaller parties, dominated Bihar politics by mobilizing upper castes, non-Yadav OBCs and extremely backward classes (EBCs). While upper castes have limited options apart from the National Democratic Alliance, EBCs can be fickle in their party preferences.
The BJP waited six years even after overtaking the JD(U) in numbers precisely for fear of upsetting the EBC voters who trusted Mr. Kumar. The appointment of Mr. Choudhary as Chief Minister is a direct bid by the BJP to reach out to the OBC-EBC base it had earlier negotiated through Mr. Kumar. This transition could potentially open up new social ties within the BJP and JD(U). The fate of the JD(U) itself, with Mr Kumar no longer at the helm, is uncertain. Mr. Choudhary became the Chief Minister on the basis of the BJP central leadership’s trust in him, but the task of winning the trust of party workers and voters rests squarely on his shoulders. Bihar also has a significant governance deficit that requires urgent attention. The state has a dynamic and young population, yet its education and health systems remain in dire straits. Mr. Choudhary will have to demonstrate the vision and determination to build on the marginal gains the state has made in recent years and focus on human development, without which any amount of infrastructure investment would be suboptimal. Bihar’s progress would have a multiplier effect on the entire country and its new Chief Minister must quickly unite and marshal all available forces towards this goal.
Published – 21 Apr 2026 0:20 AM IST
